Understanding your Gut Health and its Effects on your Body

Since your stomach and guts are crucial in digesting and absorbing nutrients from food and discarding waste. Having proper gut health can have surprising effects on your overall health. While there is no clear definition of gut health, the medical community refers to it as having a healthy microbiome and limited digestive symptoms.

There are hundreds of different bacteria, viruses, and fungi living in your large intestine, some essential and others harmful. They are responsible for aiding the digestion of food and turning it into nutrients for your body. Here is all you need to know to be more conscious of your gut health.

How does gut health affect your body?

There can be several signs of how gut health can affect your body. Since it directly correlates with your immune system and mental health. Worsening gut health can cause several autoimmune severe diseases and disorders, including type 2 diabetes and many gastrointestinal disorders—such as irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory diseases. Furthermore, maintaining a certain level of biodiversity in your gut is essential in properly breaking down your food. Since certain bacteria can turn fiber into fatty acid, leading fat to build up in your liver.

What causes Poor Gut Health

Poor gut health can have a variety of physical and mental causes. Common illnesses like cold or flu, lack of proper night sleep, excessive alcohol and smoking, and eating unhealthy processed food can affect gut health. However, the gut microbiome can also be affected by things outside of our control, such as whether we were breastfed or bottle-fed as infants or by the environment in which we were raised. In brief, there is no one specific cause of poor gut health, although there can be signs. These can range from gas bloating, constipation, diarrhea, or heartburn.  Lastly, mental health can also play a part. Stress, depression, and anxiety contribute to worsening your gut health.

Improving your Gut Health

Simply adding healthier habitats and diets can immensely improve gut health. Furthermore, these changes will help improve overall health.

Dietary Fiber

Fiber is essential for quickly and slowly moving food through your gut and improving the quality of your stools. Broken down fiber can also create necessary products that aid in gastrointestinal development. Moreover, it can reduce the risk of causing health disease and type 2 diabetes. You should start by consuming at least 25g to 30g of fiber daily; excellent sources can be vegetables, beans, fruits, bread, nuts, and seeds.

Limiting Processed Foods

This refers to eating foods closest to their natural state and minimally processed. Such food retains most vital nutrients and does not have added sugar, salt, fats, or additives. This includes snacks, ham or salami, desserts, cereals, and all fast foods. It is recommended to start by incorporating eggs, dairy, seafood, poultry, and red meat into your diet.

Drink Plenty of Water

It is pretty simple and self-explanatory: drinking the proper amount of water daily can affect not only your gut health for the better but also your overall health. Water assists with the breakdown of food, giving your body an easy time absorbing food—the benefit of softening stools and preventing constipation.

Fermented Foods

The positives of fermented foods have made them popular throughout history. Fermented food contains as many bacteria as needed for proper digestive health and other benefits. Examples include yogurt, Kefir, some cheese, kimchi, apple cider vinegar, and many more.

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